(a) If the person is certified for admission under § 33-6-404 and is not already at the hospital or treatment resource at which the person is proposed to be admitted, the physician, psychologist, or designated professional who completed the certificate of need shall give the sheriff or the transportation agent designated under chapter 6, part 9 of this title, the original of the certificate and turn the person immediately over to the custody of the sheriff or the transportation agent, who shall transport the person to a hospital or treatment resource that has available accommodations for the person for proceedings under § 33-6-407. Transportation to a state owned or operated hospital or treatment resource may not commence without a certificate of need executed by a mandatory prescreening agent, or by a physician or psychologist as authorized by § 33-6-105.
(b) (1) Before transportation begins, the sheriff or transportation agent shall notify the hospital or treatment resource at which the person is proposed to be admitted as to where the person is and the best estimate of anticipated time of arrival at the hospital or treatment resource.
(2) If the sheriff or transportation agent has given notice and arrives at the hospital or treatment resource within the anticipated time of arrival, then the sheriff or transportation agent is required to remain at the hospital or treatment resource only long enough for the person to be evaluated for admission under § 33-6-407, but not longer than one (1) hour and forty-five (45) minutes. After one (1) hour and forty-five (45) minutes, the person is the responsibility of the evaluating hospital or treatment resource, and the sheriff or transportation agent may leave.
(3) If the sheriff or transportation agent has not given notice as required under subdivision (b)(1) or has not arrived within the anticipated time of arrival, the sheriff or transportation agent shall remain at the hospital or treatment resource as long as it takes to complete the evaluation under § 33-6-407.
(4) In counties having a population of six hundred thousand (600,000) or more according to the 1970 federal census of population or any subsequent federal census, the provisions of subdivisions (b)(1)-(3) do not apply, and the sheriff or transportation agent is relieved of further transportation duties after the person has been delivered to the hospital or treatment resource, and transportation duties shall be assumed by appropriate personnel of the hospital or treatment resource.
[Acts 2000, ch. 947, § 1; 2002, ch. 730, § 40.]
Compiler's Notes. For table of U.S. decennial populations of Tennessee counties, see Volume 13 and its supplement.